Cats and Dogs
by kissables333
Summary: There was something about that damn cat.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

He lost something once.

He lost _someone_.

She went away in a burst of light.

She had been trying to stop him. She had been trying to save him from himself and from his anger. He heard her yelling his name, but he was too fixated on getting his revenge. He wanted revenge and it cost him her life. It cost him twelve years.

He knew what was going to happen a moment before it did.

She was across the street and running toward him, her ginger hair flying in the wind.

He blinked and the street exploded. The night was filled with the booms and bangs of explosion. She was gone.

Disappearing into the sky as she was exploded into little pieces. Exploded beyond recognition.

Not even her little finger remained.


	2. Chapter 2

They met during their first year in detention.

Her name was Victoria. Her vivid red hair caught his attention the moment he walked into the room. Sirius was enthralled the moment he met her.

He was in detention for leg-locking a Slytherin—a professor had happened upon him as he laughed at the sight of the Slytherin hopping around.

She was in detention for cursing Lucius Malfoy. He had called a fellow Gryffindor—Lily Evans—a mudblood.

"_Crooks." he smiled as she sat down next to him on the red couch in the common room._

Victoria Crookshine was completely different from him. Rarely, during all their years at Hogwarts, did she get in trouble. Victoria didn't have a knack for trouble that he did, so while he spent just as much time with Victoria as he spent with Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail, she could never be one of the Marauders. Victoria didn't like getting in trouble.

She was smart and spent a lot of time reading in the library because she wanted to understand everything. That was one of the things that attracted her to him: her insatiable thirst for knowledge.

"_Snuffles." she said with a glare in his direction._

Sirius and Victoria were not without their similarities, however. They were both fiercely loyal. Both would protect their friends at all costs. Both had a temper and allowed their emotions to control their actions.

"_Don't call me Snuffles." he said as she crossed her arms in front of her chest._

They were quite a pair and Sirius knew he was in love with her. He knew he didn't want her to be with anyone else; he knew he would do anything to protect her. Sirius would do anything for her; Prongs told him he was whipped—but Sirius figured he didn't have to worry until he started stalking Victoria like James stalked Lily. Sirius cared for Victoria; he would never let anyone hurt her. Including himself.

"_Don't call me Crooks." she replied as she met his gaze with a cocked eyebrow._

That was why he never made a move on her. Victoria was different. She had been his friend since first year and he knew he couldn't treat her like just another girl. Sirius knew what he would do if he ever got the courage to ask her out. He knew he would mess it up; he knew he would wreck it. She meant too much to him to do that so he suffered in silence and tried to replace her with other girls but they never measured up.

Sirius never worried about losing her to someone else until their seventh year. Victoria was beautiful but any guy that had even thought of asking her out was intimidated by the fact that she hung out with the Marauders.

He never worried until Tim Lockwood came into the picture.

When losing her to someone else was a sudden and real possibility, Sirius didn't think about what he did. Victoria Crookshine made him do stupid things.


	3. Chapter 3

Tim Lockwood was everything that Sirius Black was not.

While Sirius would be the boy to date if one wanted to anger her parents, Tim would be the boy to win over parents. Tim was the boy every little girl dreamed of marrying one day.

Unlike Sirius, Tim had never goten a detention – nor had he ever broken a school rule. Tim was a Hufflepuff prefect and probably would've been Head Boy had Prongs not been chosen in his stead.

Tim Lockwood was charming and respectful. He pulled out chairs for girls and opened doors for them. He was a gentleman.

Tim never hurt anyone; he was always kind. He was nothing like Sirius Black.

Sirius wondered if that was what Victoria liked about Tim.

_Sirius walked into the common room one October morning to see Crooks sitting on one of the couches. Smiling to himself, he hopped over the back of the couch and landed in the spot next to her._

"_Are you going to Hogsmeade with this weekend, Crooks?" he asked nonchalantly_

"_Tim and I are going together, Snuffles." she replied as a small smile graced his features._

_He was blindsided. "Lockwood? Tim Lockwood, that git?"_

"_I don't see anything wrong with him." she said, scrunching her eyebrows as she turned to look at him._

"_That's the problem." Sirius stressed as his stomach twisted. "He's…he's clean! No mischief, no excitement! No trouble!" he said as if it was the worst thing in the world. "He's...he's…" 'He's not me'—but Sirius could not say that to her._

"_Maybe I've had enough trouble for awhile." she shrugged. Lily called her over then, leaving Sirius to watch her go with the hope burning in his chest that she could never have enough trouble for where there was trouble he was sure to be around._

Sirius did not think straight when it came to Victoria—usually he did not think at all. Thus, the only thing on his mind was preventing the date at all costs. The thought that Crooks may have actually wanted to go on the date was not a possibility in his mind.

On the morning of, Sirius found Lockwood and put his ill-devised plan into action.

"_Hey Lockwood." he called, seeing the Hufflepuff boy in the corridor._

"_Yeah, Black?" the tall boy asked amiably._

"_Got a message from Victoria. She's ill. Can't make it to Hogsmeade today."_

"_Oh." Tim looked disappointed; Sirius' stomach churned guiltily, but he shrugged it off._

"_Tell her I hope she feels better soon, alright?"_

"_Alright," Sirius agreed, but he was already zooming away._

His plan had seemed brilliant when scheming. His goal was to get Crooks away from Lockwood. All he planned to do was tell Tim the date was cancelled. When Crooks went to met him, Tim wouldn't be there. Crooks would realize Tim wasn't worth her time and hang out with Sirius instead. The plan was perfect—in Sirius' mind.

_They heard the portrait hole open and in she walked with her head down._

"_How'd it go, Vick?" Prongs called out._

"_He didn't show." she muttered._

_His heart constricted at the sound of her voice. She was sad. That didn't make sense._

"_She liked him." Prongs muttered as he turned back toward his friends._

"_Why?" Sirius asked; his eyes were fixed on her retreating figure._

"_Dunno. She was just really excited about the date." Prongs muttered. "I say we get back at the git that hurt her."_

Sirius did not think she had actually liked Tim. He didn't want to believe it was true. He never wanted to hurt her and that was exactly what he had done. Sirius had to make it right.

"_I told Lockwood she was sick." Sirius admitted once the four were alone that night in the common room._

_Moony looked up at him curiously. "What do you mean Padfoot?"_

"_I told Lockwood their date was canceled so that he wouldn't show."_

"_Can't believe you, Padfoot." Prongs muttered._

"_What do you want from me, Prongs? You know how I feel about—"_

"_If you cared about her, you wouldn't have hurt her like this!" Moony said in exasperation._

"_Now she's heartbroken." Prongs added._

"_She's not heart-broken, she's just…a little hurt." he tried to reason._

"_A little? The guy she really liked just stood her up!"_

"_He's not right for her!" Padfoot defended._

"_And you are?"_

"_No! I know I don't deserve her! That's why I've suffered as her friend for six years! I don't deserve her—that fact is thrown in my face every time I see her. I couldn't take the pain of watching her with him because if anyone deserved her, it would be Tim. He deserves her but I care about her more! I know I do!"_

"_Maybe you care for her more, Padfoot," Moony said slowly, "but Tim would never hurt her like you did today."_

_Sirius only watched in silence as his friends left him to stew in his own shame._

Sirius knew he had to repair the damage he had created, even if it meant losing Crooks to someone else. The following day, in between classes, Sirius found Tim again.

"_Lockwood."_

"_Hey Black. What's—"_

"_Look, I…lied to you." the Gryffindor admitted with a sheepish ruffle of his black locks._

"_About what?" the sandy haired Hufflepuff asked good-naturedly as he shifted the bag on his shoulder._

"_About Vic. She wasn't sick. She thinks you stood her up."_

_The boy looked stricken. "Why—"_

"_Don't ask why. I'm just trying to make it right."_

"_Well…how?"_

"_Well…look, tell her that you happened upon me pranking someone and that you tried to stop me so I…stupefied you. Tell her you missed your date because you were unconscious in the hospital wing. Blame it all on me." Sirius insisted._

Sirius knew, as he left Lockwood that night, that Crooks would be furious with him when she found out. He could not tell her the truth. If Lockwood told Crooks why he really didn't show, she would demand an explanation for his actions and he couldn't tell her the truth. He could not tell her that he ruined his date because of his feelings for her.

"_What the hell is wrong with you?"_

_She was mad. Actually, she was more than mad. She was furious. At him. Every ounce of rage in her body was aimed at him. Her red curls were jiggling with her anger._

"_Crooks—"_

"_You cursed him because he caught you doing some stupid prank? What is your problem?"_

"_Victoria—"_

"_Honestly, you knew! You knew how much I liked him. You knew how important that date was to me. You let me believe he stood me up when you knew where he was! God!" she shook her head as she trembled with anger. "Is no one is allowed to be happy if you aren't? I'm sorry if the hordes of girls you cycle through every month aren't enough for you! You just had to wreck my date. I honestly don't know why I bother with you—"_

"_If I'm not worth it, why are you wasting your time yelling at me when you could be off snogging Lockwood?" he shouted in return._

"_Sometimes, I wonder if you're even worth the trouble it is to be friends with you."_

_She hissed as she turned to go._

_And in his anger at losing her, he shouted at her retreating back: "Trust me, I'm not!"_


	4. Chapter 4

Victoria would not speak to him.

Sirius knew he deserved her silence.

He knew he deserved her hatred.

He missed her, none the less.

He hoped that she missed him too. Hoped that she felt the same stirring in her gut, hoped her life seemed just a bit less bright without him by her side.

Sirius hated seeing Tim and Victoria together. It was not right in his mind.

They sat together during meals.

They sat together in the library studying.

They went to Hogsmeade together.

They sat together in classes.

They were attached at the hip and it made Sirius _sick_.

He never saw her without him unless it was the brief moments when she was sitting with Prongs, Moony, and Wormtail in the common room at night. Those moments, she did not look his way; she did not recognize his presence. He might as well have not existed that at all. He prayed for harsh word or a sharp glance. Sirius silently pleaded for her to insult him, _anything _that would mean she knew he was alive.

Crooks and Sirius were both very stubborn people; she more so than him. She would not yield; she would not go back to him. His birthday passed without recognition from her: not a gift, a card, a smile, or even a glance. Finally, he realized that he had to reconcile their relationship because she certainly wasn't going to make the move to.

_It was her birthday. He placed her gift on the ground outside of her dormitory and left after knocking on the door._

_Victoria opened the door and looked around in confusion before spotting the box on the ground. Stooping to pick it up, she smiled softly as she realized who it was from._

_The next morning she sat down next to him on the couch._

"_Thanks for the chocolate frogs." she said._

"_Happy birthday." he replied softly, not moving his gaze to her even though he wanted nothing more than to look at her and decipher her feelings._

"_You sneak into Hogsmeade to get them, Snuffles?" she asked quietly._

"_Maybe." he smiled slightly._

"_You should stop breaking rules for me."_

_"I'd do anything for you." he had said._

It was true.

He'd rather torment himself by watching her with Tim than never be around her at all.

Just as he knew he would, however, he soon found a way to ruin their newly rekindled friendship.

"_How could you be so stupid!" he yelled at her._

"_Sirius—"_

"_You know what happens every month! You know he can't control himself! You know he doesn't recognize us as he transforms! It's dangerous!"_

"_That's not a concern for you guys! You go with him month after month! He is my friend too, Sirius! I should be allowed to help and you can't tell me otherwise!"_

"_We're able to help him!" Sirius cast a glance around them and lowered his voice to a hiss, "You know what we do every month so that we can help him. You can't do that. You're unprotected and you put yourself in danger. You'd get hurt, just like you did tonight." He insisted, pointing a shaking finger at the gash across her cheek. "That's why you can't help us! Because you're careless!"_

"_Oh! _ I'm _careless. That's rich! You're the most reckless person I know!"_

"_I've never gotten anyone hurt for it unlike you!" Sirius snapped, gesturing to Prongs who lay unconscious on the Hospital Wing bed next to Crooks'._

"_Except last year when you told Snape where to find Remus! You could have gotten him killed! But why would that matter to you?"_

_Sirius rolled his eyes. "He deserved it! But you…I told you not to come. Told you to stay away. All of us did because it's _dangerous_. You didn't know what you were walking into and none of us expected you to show up. You almost got killed and I had turn my back on Remus to get you out of danger and because of that, James got hurt."_

"_Sirius—"_

"_You should have just stayed with Lockwood. Then you would've stayed out of trouble at least."_


End file.
